City's Nick Faust closing in on his decision

Time is winding down in the recruitment of City shooting guard Nick Faust.

The 6-foot-5, 175-pound senior is fresh off a trip to College Park for Maryland Madness and has plans to make an official visit to Villanova this weekend.

After that, the consensus four-star prospect will make his decision during a special on ESPNU scheduled for Oct. 28. In addition to the Terps and Wildcats, Florida State also remains under consideration.

"I want him to have a clear mind before the beginning of his season starts," said Anthony Faust, Nick's father.

Anthony Faust said his son had "a great experience" Friday night at Comcast Center. The Knights standout sat with Terps point guard commitment Sterling Gibbs behind the Maryland bench."I think the coaching staff is phenomenal," Anthony Faust said. "Gary Williams is a man of his word. I think he seems very sincere. The whole coaching staff -- with Keith Booth and Bino [Ranson] -- are great coaches. … I just think that the school itself is a good atmosphere. It's just my opinion, [but] I think it would be a good fit for him. But he has to make the decision."

For each college visit, Anthony Faust said he focuses on the university's academic programs and support system. He's less concerned with basketball, and that will be no different this weekend when they check out Villanova. On the court, Faust thinks his son would fit in well with the Wildcats.

"Villanova, really, they've been involved for awhile, but they fell off and I guess they couldn't get who they wanted to get and came back on board," he said. "Nick likes Villanova. He likes their style of ball. I think the reason why he's in tune with Villanova and with Maryland is because of the guard play. That really fits his profile of basketball."

The Fausts don't have a visit scheduled to Florida State, but Anthony Faust said he has been impressed with Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton.

"His style of coaching, the way he runs his offense around the guard and actually, how many guards he's put in the league [is impressive]," Faust said. "I was really impressed by that, and that's something that he didn't tell me. It's something I read up on their website when I looked him up."

Over the past six months, Anthony Faust has witnessed his son rise from a lesser-known regional recruit to a highly touted, consensus high-major prospect who will announce his decision on national television. It's a precipitous rise that wasn't necessarily a surprise to Faust's father.

"I always knew Nick had it in him," he said. "It was just a matter of Nick wanting to put it to action because Nick was always a great ball player. He just had to put his mind together to let himself figure out that he was ready to explode. I don't know if it was just timing, but I just think he put himself in a good position where he waited for his time and he started excelling."

Baltimore Sun photo of Nick Faust by Gene Sweeney Jr. / March 16, 2010